Unable to tether iOS 5 to Lion over bluetooth

I upgraded both my 3gs to iOS 5 and my MBA to Lion. Since then I have not been able to use internet tethering over bluetooth. Now I'm not sure what may be causing this.


Observations:

1) USB tethering works

2) Bluetooh pairing and PAN seem to work. I even get an IP Address.


What I've tried:

1) Recreating all network settings on the Air

2) Repairing the bluetooth connection

3) Restarting all devices.


What could be causing this? Was it my upgrade to iOS 5, or my upgrade to Lion, or both?


I have been unable to find anyone else in my current situation.


Any help/advice would be appreciated.


Roel

iPhone 3GS, iOS 5

Posted on Oct 25, 2011 9:16 AM

Reply
36 replies

Oct 25, 2011 11:18 AM in response to robo25

I, too, have this exact problem with identical hardware:


  • 3GS updated to iOS5
  • MacBook Air on Lion 10.7.2


I also have tried all the same / usual troubleshooting steps, to no avail:


  • Removed devices from Bluetooth lists on both Mac and iPhone
  • Restarted both devices
  • Restored iPhone


I get an IP address on my Mac, but I can't even ping the iPhone's gateway address of 127.20.0.1 (or something very similar - can't remember exactly). USB tethering also works perfectly for me.


If you've discovered a fix since, definitely let me know!

Oct 28, 2011 11:12 AM in response to robo25

Same problem here. I have iPhone 4 iOS5, MacBook Pro with Lion, can tether with USB, Bluetooth, or WiFi no prob, but no Internet (server not found). My mDNSResponder just pings off IPs starting with 64.71.etc. but there's never any incoming traffic. I called my cellular service provider and they assure me that my 3G data plan does in fact support internet tethering. Get on this apple! Not cool.

Nov 4, 2011 8:37 PM in response to robo25

I have the same problem with 3gs upgraded to IOS 5 and my Mac Book Pro upgraded to Lion. The phone shows that it is connected to the computer via blue tooth but tethering just doesnt work. I can tether with usb but not bluetooth so it is a pain. I was planning on getting an Ipad with wifi and tethering it with my phone when needed but if I can't do it via bluetooth it will be worthless for me.

Nov 4, 2011 9:30 PM in response to robo25

Noble Seven is wrong about every single thing in their post. If he/she had read my post, it'd be obvious that both Bluetooth tethering is possible and that our cellular plans do allow tethering. We have all succesfully tethered our iPhones to our Macs, the problem is is that we are unable to share the Internet connection to the iPhone. Hotspot has made the connection, but loading webpages doesn't work. For future posters: please don't respond unless you have read and understood prior posts. Informed help is appreciated.

Nov 11, 2011 4:02 PM in response to robo25

I've got an iPhone 3GS and I'm having exactly the same issue, it'sdriving me insaine! as I type this I am at an Apple store trying to resolve the problem myself before my appoitment begins at the Genius Bar. I never had this problem until I updated to Lion and iOS5, tethering worked flawlessly on Snow Lepoard & iOS4, both with bluetooth & USB.


I'm now running my Mac Book Pro with OSX Lion (having just updated recently), I've gone through all the steps described in this post, and others, and so far no luck. I was also hoping maybe the problem might have been fixed with a new patch and have just discovered and updated to the latest iphone OS to iOS 5.0.1 and OSX 10.7.2.


On googling the issue, it appears that in the US it would seem that phone companies like AT&T are trying to capitalise on this feature and thus charge more for the service (even though we as customers were using the service fine before, smells of more corporate greed!). I live in Australia, and as far as I'm aware this hasn't been introduced yet, besides the telco's would seriously need to improve their service before adding more cost to the consumer (not that it's neever stoped them before).


I'm hoping that the Genius Bar person can provide some solution, if so I'll be sure to post.

Nov 14, 2011 2:16 PM in response to robo25

Ok.

After spending about 40-50 minutes at the Apple store Genius bar in Chatswood Chase, I still couldn't resolve the issue. It was determined that Bluetooth was working fine (as we tested out on his personal iPhone 4S also) but could not gain access to the phones network, even though on both phones (mine and his) we recieved the Hotspot activated blue bar display. We tried deleting an re-pairing the devices to the point where we started getting messages that "Pairing was unsuccessfull", changed Bluetooth settings to PAN, withing Bluetooth Prefs: makesure Protocol set to RS-32 and Service to Wireless iAP, created a new login on the laptop, but still NO LUCK.


Odly, though, the very first time we set it up it worked! then we tried again to make sure, and after repeating the process all luck gone. We tried deleting all bluetooth and wifi prefs, (took a while to figure out where they were as they're in a different folder structure since updating to Lion), connecting via USB wasn't working either.


The best (and only) advice given was I would have to back up my entire HD and perform a clean install of OSX Snow Leapard, thus erasing my HD and starting over! Then I'd have to re-install Lion (which was downloaded, I better not have to pay for it again).


To my surprise, as I type this, I open up my MBP on my desk next to me at work, and go through the process yet again to make sure I remember things... VOILA!! It's working! ***! to make sure I disconnect and re-connect... so far so good, I am soooo confused, as I haven't done anything differently from my visit to the Genius Bar 3 days ago.

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Unable to tether iOS 5 to Lion over bluetooth

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